Frensham Village Churches

Letter from the Vicarage - November 2017

BLESSINGS
FROM THE VICARAGE

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Recently Mark and
I managed to get away for a belated 30th wedding anniversary trip to Florence
and Venice, which as we love art, sculpture and music were ideal destinations.
We had great meals out – you can’t beat a good bowl of real Italian pasta in
the ambience of an authentic setting, can you? I have to admit the spaghetti
Bolognese scene in Disney’s Lady and the Tramp did come to mind a few
times!

“Theees
ees the night, the most glooooorious night, the night of ‘belle notte’… !”

However, one meal stands in my memory sadly not because of
the great food, romance or ambience, but because the group of eastern /
oriental people on the table next to us. All 6 of them were engrossed with their
mobile phones and completely ignoring each other and even disregarding the
waiters who were trying to take their order and later deliver their food. Four
of the group had earphones in and were texting or messaging on their touch
screens; another seemed to be animatedly playing a game on his phone, whilst
the final person nearest to us was watching various You Tube recordings of
people injuring themselves whilst attempting ridiculous feats all to very
annoying repetitive music. This chap didn’t even have his earphones in so that
all those of us sitting nearest to him could hear was the monotonous music and
painful screams emanating from his phone together with his laughing out loud at
the contestant’s misfortunes and misadventures…

Quite frankly I was not only astounded at these young
people’s total obsession with their phones but also greatly irritated by the
utter lack of perception of or respect for anyone around them, even for those of their own group! Each
was in their own little virtual world
which clearly was not the beautiful world of Venice, even though they were in
the actual place! What a waste of a plane fare! They could have stayed at home
and not disturbed others so rudely…

I asked Mark across the candlelit table, “What is the point
of them being here?” I felt angry, sad and upset that people would so disregard
and devalue those who were trying to serve them and I am therefore not in the
least bit surprised that the Venetian government is trying to reduce the number
of tourists visiting, if the majority are behaving ungratefully like this.

A friend, when I told him this story, said, “Mobile phones
whilst supposedly improving communication paradoxically cause more separation,
alienation and isolation from the rest of society, and can be much more
damaging than any ‘old fashioned bullying in the playground…”

This is quite a dilemma, isn’t it? Because mobile phones are
actually very useful, aren’t they?

I use mine like virtually everyone else, in a number of ways
for work, in order to keep in communication with whoever needs me wherever I
am. However, I set boundaries (only in an emergency really) as to when I use it
when in company because people are always my priority. I am also very happy to
switch it off or leave it at home if I am off duty, as it were!

I think it is useful to remember Jesus’ teaching here. He
used the example of money and said, (and I have expanded this) ‘money (per se)
is not the root of all evil, but the
love (addiction or dependence) of money is…’
Jesus also said you cannot serve God and Mammon, meaning it is not healthy for
us to be distracted and lured away from the true purpose of our being with
earthly wealth or possessions. Following this argument some may ask, ‘what then
is the true purpose of our being?’

Well, Jesus showed us this in his life, death and
resurrection. He joined heaven and earth together in love so revealing our
purpose and journey to be the same as his… “Love each other as I have loved
you”, he said. So we should be about togetherness, love, relationship,
communication, community, communion…and primarily valuing each other… and
not being self-absorbed with a phone…

When we, this month, remember all those brave military
personnel who gave up their lives so that we may live freely today and live
with gratefulness and respect for all; if we are not valuing each other as they valued our lives – enough to give
theirs up for our future; if we are becoming mechanised living in a small,
virtual, ironically disconnected phone world; if we are being manipulated and
brainwashed by the enticements of electronic gadgets over the care and
connexion with people; then we have
indeed lost the plot and this devalues the sacrifice they made.

Over the last 6 ½ years I have been in this parish, the
attendance for the yearly Remembrance Service at the Village Memorials, the
Royal British Legion and in church has been reducing. The lure of Sunday
trading and other distractions including phones have all contributed to this
reduction. So this year I call everyone to really show their gratefulness and please come along – put your phones
down for this short period of time and come and remember. Come and pay your
respects with thankfulness, humility and grace.